Blog 7

In various states around the world the number of political parties present is usually a result of many different factors. Political scientists claim that one such factor is the electoral rules, and they call its effect on the number of parties Duverger's law. It essentially states that a single member district plurality system (SMDP) results in two strong parties while a proportional representation system (PR) results in more than two parties. In order to test this claim, I researched Israel and its electoral rules.

To begin my search, I started by calculating the total number of effective parties for Israel. Israel had 12 parties in the last election (Wikipedia ), but not all of them were effective or significant. After running through the calculations, I found that Israel has 6.788 effective parties. What this means is that there is almost 7 parties in Israel that win seats and are considered main competitors. After I had calculated the total number of effective parties, I then continued on to research the electoral rules in Israel to see if Duverger's law holds true.

As I researched the electoral rules in Israel, I looked to see what the system type was, and as it turns out, it was proportional representation (INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION ). A proportional representation system means that the number of votes received by a party are turned into a percentage of the total, and the party is then awarded the same percentage of seats. So far this seems to support what Duverger's law claims, since there are 6.788 effective parties. Other factors, however, do play a role here. For example, the district magnitudes effect how seats are awarded. In Israel's cause it is fairly simple, it only has one district with 120 seats up for grabs (INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION ).

Another factor that plays into electoral rules is the set up of the list. In a proportional representation system a list is presented in which voters either vote for the party list, or they can choose to vote for individuals on the said lists. The list is usually set by the party leaders though, and voters just vote for the party they want. In Israel's cause the list is nonpreferential (INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION ), or in other words the voters just vote for the party, not individuals.

Once all the votes are tallied up, and seats begin to be awarded, there are several methods you can do the awarding. As for Israel, they use the d'Hondt method (INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION ). In addition to the d”Hondt method, Israel has a threshold at 2 percent of the votes (INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION ). What this means is that in order for a party to count in the election and win any number of seats, it must have at least 2 percent of the votes. As mentioned earlier, Israel had 12 parties that won seats, but the actually number of parties that tried to win seats was 33 (Wikipedia ). 21 of these parties, however, did not meet this 2 percent threshold. While researching, I also could not find anything to support that Israel has a hybrid system, so I concluded that id does not.

In the case of Israel, it does indeed support Duverger's law. Israel has 6.788 effective parties, and it is a PR system. As for its electoral rules, Israel is a proportional representation system with one district of 120 seats and a nonpreferential list. Israel uses the d'Hondt method to award seats, it is not a hybrid, and it has a 2 percent threshold.

Citations

. "Elections in Israel." Wikipedia. N.p.. Web. 2 Nov 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Israel>.

. "ISRAEL Knesset (Parliament)." INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION. N.p.. Web. 2 Nov 2012. <http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2155_B.htm>.